ARTICLES ABOUT NATO BY DATE - PAGE 4

PARIS -- The deputy commander of NATO operations in Libya acknowledged Friday that NATO warplanes may have mistakenly bombed rebel forces Thursday near Brega, killing at least five people and generating angry complaints from rebel leaders. After initially declining to apologize, NATO later voiced regret for the lethal mistake. Rear Adm. Russell Harding, in a briefing from his Naples headquarters, sought to shift the blame for the bombing to rebel commanders, who he said had deployed captured Libyan army tanks for the first time, unbeknown to NATO pilots flying bombing raids high over the area.

AJDABIYA, Libya (AP) -- An apparent NATO airstrike slammed into a rebel combat convoy Thursday, killing at least five fighters and sharply boosting anger among anti-government forces after the second bungled mission in a week blamed on the military alliance. The attack -- outside the strategic oil port of Brega -- brought fresh questions about coordination between NATO and the patchwork of rebel militias in a conflict described by a senior U.S. commander as a stalemate that could eventually require the Pentagon to reassert more power, and possibly even send in ground forces.

BENGHAZI, Libya (AP) -- A NATO airstrike intended to thwart Moammar Gadhafi's forces killed 13 rebel fighters in eastern Libya instead, the opposition said Saturday, but they described it as an "unfortunate accident" and stressed it did not diminish their support for the international air campaign. The rebels' response to the attack -- blaming it on a mistake within their ranks -- highlighted their heavy dependence on the international air campaign as they face the superior military power of the longtime Libyan leader.

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) -- Fellow Arab and African nations raised the international pressure Friday on Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, with tiny Qatar flying the Arab world's first combat missions over his country and the African Union imploring him to move toward democratic elections. Meanwhile in Washington, the White House announced that President Barack Obama would speak at 7:30 p.m. Monday on the U.S. role in the Libyan war. The speech announcement comes as leading Republican lawmakers and some from his own party have pressed him for clarity about the goals and exit strategy of the United States.

France ended up making the first strikes, and the diplomats said Turkey's envoys had warned that NATO's participation in the airstrikes could damage the alliance's standing in the Islamic world at a time when it is heavily engaged in the war in Afghanistan. The diplomats, who are accredited to NATO, spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions. NATO's participation in any military action against Libya would require the approval of all 28 NATO members.

KABUL, Afghanistan (WP) -- The accidental killing of a cousin of President Hamid Karzai by a U.S. special forces team became on Thursday the latest in a string of high-profile civilian casualties that have further soured the relationship between the president and his American benefactors. The fatal shooting late Wednesday of Yaar Mohammad Khan, 65, a second cousin of the president, in a night raid in southern Afghanistan, stoked fresh anger from Karzai, who has become increasingly critical of the way NATO is prosecuting the war. "The president sees this as another lamentable case of loss of life," said presidential spokesman Waheed Omer.

BEYIDA, Libya -- Rebels holding Libya's third- and fourth-largest cities Thursday repulsed tank-backed assaults by Moammar Gadhafi's forces as the embattled dictator struggled to reclaim areas outside the capital and fresh high-level defections further fractured his regime, residents and news reports said. President Barack Obama and other Western leaders worked to firm up responses to halt a crackdown that is widely feared to have killed more than 1,000 people over the nine-day revolt.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- A series of bomb blasts and insurgents attacks killed 11 people across Afghanistan on Sunday, including five NATO service members and three Afghan police, officials said. The strikes, which come a day after Taliban fighters stormed a NATO base in eastern Afghanistan, show the insurgents' fighting spirit has not been broken despite a surge of U.S. troops and firepower. Also Sunday, the Afghan president's office said the former ambassador-designate to Pakistan, who was seized by gunmen two years ago in the Pakistani city of Peshawar, has been released and is back home safe.